


protocol 500

by panther



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: F/M, Hux Has No Chill, M/M, Mpreg, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 14:15:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 7,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5747524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are four hundred and ninety-nine protocols in the General Manuel that Hux has memorised and none of them include a pregnant force sensitive boss bleeding out in his own bathroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Each chap will be 500 words of Hux, Kylo and mayhem.

Ren was due an hour ago for a meeting with Hux and has yet to appear. The general is utterly seething. Slamming the holopad down onto the conference table he mutters to himself before getting to his feet and storming from the room and towards the other man's quarters. Ren had destroyed rooms and important control panels but he had never been as rude as to be _late_. For someone as punctual as Hux it feels like a personal insult. 

He is smug when he presses his finger into the scanner. No one else can get into these rooms but their occupier and himself. He is smirking, while seething, as he marches his way in but halts after only a few steps. The place utterly _reeks_ and dimly Hux recognises it smells like blood. 

"Ren? Ren! Are you alright?" He barges into the other man's bedroom and recoils slightly to see that there is blood all over the tiled floor and suspicious stains on the black sheets. Light comes from the other man's refresher room so Hux rushes into to find one of the strangest things he has ever seen. 

Kylo Ren is huddled around his toilet naked from the waist down as he cradles his protruding stomach. Blood is on every surface. A hand print in blood is dripping from the ceramic toilet bowl. " _Ren_?"

"Get out." It is the quietest Hux has ever heard the man speak. If anything it is a huff of air with words mixed in. 

"I'm getting a healer."

" _No._. Hux, _please_. This cannot go on record. It can't!" Ren falls forward onto the hands that had previously been at his stomach and begins to crawl towards Hux. The sight is terrifying.

"You're _bleeding_ everywhere and you clearly have some sort of...some sort of...tumour or something. We need a healer."

"It is not a tumour." And Ren sounds so suddenly calm that it stops Hux in his tracks. 

"Then what it is?"

"A baby." Ren sound so sincere that Hux feels his vision swarm. He has heard of things like this. Powerful force users and stories told to show how terrible the Jedi are because while other species can have males carry children humans cannot. Hux has seen Ren's records . He is so very, very, human. And yet it makes sense. The bumps looks like a baby. It explains the blood and the way Ren keeps gritting his teeth and flinching. 

Hux stumbles forward and then to his knees and without asking he shoves Ren's tunic up above the bump and presses a gloved hand to the other man's skin. A kick meets his touch.

 

"There is nothing in the manual about this." Hux states for lack of anything else to say. There are four hundred and ninety-nine protocols in the General Manuel that Hux has memorised and none of them include a pregnant force sensitive boss bleeding out in his own bathroom. 

He's going to have to deliver Kylo Ren's baby. Fuck.


	2. 2

Ren is human. _Human and male_. "Where the fuck is it going to come out?"

Silently Ren pulls a sharp kitchen knife from the other side of the toilet bowl. Hux pales. "What? I'm hardly going to shit it out." Ren snaps.

"I can't just cut you open without any sort of painkiller. That is positively barbaric." And would probably kill him, Hux privately thinks to himself. He _will not_ be explaining that one to Snoke.

"I will endure. The force will help me focus and the pain will give me power. I will use that power to heal my own wounds." That sounds fake but ok.

"You have lost a lot of blood. I'm going to get bacta before I try anything. I can get it brought here. No one needs to know anything about anything." Hux states, fobbing off Ren's protests before they come. The force may be powerful but Hux is not going to leave something like that to chance and then there is the baby itself. What if it is not ok ? Can Ren heal others with his force skills? Would he even want to? He doesn't seem the fatherly sort. 

Ren grits his teeth through another contraction as Hux gets his communicator out and requests the bacta. He feeds a story about Ren sustaining a deeper wound than thought in training and then stumbles to his feet to look for towels. Blankets. _Something_. "We need to get you to the bed. We need more space." 

"I...don't think I can make it that far." Ren states quietly after a few awkward seconds of them staring at one another.

"I'll help." Hux says softly. He wishes he had any sort of idea what to do but all he _can_ do is try not to panic as he swoops down and hooks Ren's arm around his shoulder, taking his weight and putting his other arm around the taller man's midsection. Not that Hux has ever thought about seeing Ren naked but if he had this would not be how would imagine getting a look at what the other man is packing. Scowling to himself he pulls up and tries to get Ren to the bed as quickly as possible. Ren is simply too big and too heavy to even attempt to be gentle about it. 

He knows a baby should come when the contractions are very close together and Ren still has a few minutes between so they can wait on the bacta. He thinks. Ren shuffles to prop himself up on the pillows and Hux nearly throws up when he sees the imprint of a tiny foot against the taught skin. 

"I'll heat the knife. Get you some water." 

"It is sterilised. I was just about to...you know."

"Right." Hack yourself open. Normal behaviour. Sure. 

Fuck.

The buzzer sounds and Hux marches towards the door to take delivery of the bacta. With a deep breath he starts towards the bed while shrugging out of his jacket. This is it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the baby, and its feet, are here

Hux takes a deep breath and climbs into the bed beside Ren. "I'm going to wait for a contraction. I mean if you're already in pain and that....well it seems as good a time as any."

A white towel sits at his knees and a stack are next to that. The white one is the fluffiest one he could find though and is for the baby. Ren begins to squirm next to him and when his eyes flutter shut Hux moves in. Fucking hell. The knife goes in just above Ren's groin and immediately Hux wants to throw up. Again. The stench of blood and fluids and _stuff_ is overpowering but Ren is gasping for air and the whole room is trembling with the force. Hux grabs a towel off the pile and presses it against Ren's abdomen to stop the flow and peers into the wound. A foot sticks out of the gap and Hux nearly passes out. _A fucking foot_. 

The knife goes flying off to the side and Hux grabs the child by the ankle and pulls until he can get his hands on the other foot and pull at that too. The head almost snaps down but he grabs the child at the last second around the neck. 

'All that to nearly fucking kill it you incompetent arsewit', is all Hux can think as he trembles and places the child on the towel. It is still attached to Ren and for a moment Hux looks up to see if Ren wants to cut its chord but the younger man looks dangerously close to passing out so instead Hux brutally pulls the placenta, and some sort of fleshy sack he assumes the child lived in, out. Again he presses towels to the wound and hopes Ren is starting to do his healing thing. The child howls on the towel and Hux paws at its blood crusted chest to try make it stop. 

Ren is trembling violently but he presses his own hands to the towel and stares at the child intently. Hux takes that as an order to clean the baby up once he has it dried off and wrapped in the towel the howls cease. "A daughter, Ren. You have a daughter."

He has no idea how to hold or soothe a child so he simply congratulates himself on not breaking its neck. Ren shudders and throws the towel aside. The wound looks angry and red but to Hux's disbelief it is healed over. Blinking, he reaches over and puts the baby into Ren's waiting arms. Ren looks bewildered and in awe at the same time. Hux shifts nervously from foot to foot before gathering the towels and heading to get Ren a fresh washcloth. He is burning with questions and desperately wants to know who the father is but for the moment he simply peers around the corner of the fresher and watches quietly. He can't help but feel that for once, Ren seems human.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren is in shock. Hux has to form a plan. And that plan is the resistence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10k and a rough plot I'll see how I go!

Tidying up seems far beneath Hux but it is a distraction. Ren has not made a sound. The child goes between whimpering and crying but Ren says nothing to give comfort. Whenever Hux looks over he is staring in disbelief and rocking her gently. Clearly, the man has no plan. There is no cot and no clothing or supplies and well this is the man who tried to birth his own child with a sharpened kitchen knife. 

Hux is going to have to step up. "You're going to need to decide what to do with her."

For a split second Ren meets his gaze and then it is back on the child. "I didn't think she would survive the birth. I didn't think she would survive inside me at all."

"You went to Jakku pregnant with her didn't you? You fought the scavenger with her. I never noticed you....well..."

"I was hardly huge and I wore thick robes." Ren mutters, pulling the towel tighter around the child as if he expects Hux to step forward and snatch her. 

"Snoke-"

"Can never know. Does not know." 

"Then we need a plan."

" _We_?" 

"I just cut you open and birthed your child, Ren, so yes _we_. We are in this together." It has nothing to do with the soft sounds the child is making or how young Ren suddenly looks. Nope. There is certainly no emotional attachment. Fuck that too. "Who is the ...other...parent?"

How does this even _work_? 

Ren shifts on the bed and then places the child on the mattress next to him. "It can only be the scavenger. This is a powerful event in the force and she is the only force sensitive I have been near in a year. I...failed the Supreme Leader. I was not granted an audience."

Well this just gets better. Hux turns on his heel and scowls, clenches his fists, feels his shoulders rise. "The resistance then."

" _What_?"

Hux turns on his heel, utterly defeated. "Where else is there to go, Ren? You've birthed the scavenger's child and I helped. He will kill us all for it. Kill _her_.We can't..I mean can you even _feed_ her?"

He stares pointedly at Ren's very flat pecs. Below them his stomach bowls out in a stretched mess where he is recovering from having the girl within him but clearly he has no way to physically feed her.

"You need to reach out for your mother and then we need to get off this ship." Hux states with more confidence than he feels because he is _throwing his life away_. "I'll start packing."

Before Ren can answer Hux is wrenching open cupboards and throwing articles of clothing on the bed. Ren wants to argue but he can't. Hux is right. Staying is a death sentence for them all. Leaving might give a life to his daughter. The baby is too small and it doesn't cry enough. She should demand food. She only asks for warmth.

He reaches for Leia.


	5. an awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren and Hux make their escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is very interesting to see where you guys think this is going and find the holes I've left for you. I can't make it simple~ I'm trying to do my own thing with the idea of the force so bear with my weird notions please! I promise I have it planned out! Though I look forward to people trying to predict it :D

Ren half expects his mother to not return his attempts to reach her but she is there at the back of his mind, quiet and far away but there. She cannot talk to him the way he can her but coordinates appear in his mind that he has never heard before. As he is communicating with the resistance Hux steals away and returns with a storm trooper uniform and a large duffle-bag filled with weapons, food, a spare set of clothing and blankets. Ren figures his plan before he shares it.

"I'm not stuffing my daughter into a duffle-bag."

"You don't have a choice. I've made it comfy! If you get your gear on then no one will know you look horrendous and we can walk right into your shuttle and leave." Hux says determinedly. "I'm not due back on duty for eight hours now. Our meeting was my last of the day."

Ren stares down at the baby, the way she looks around but doesn't see anything yet. So fragile and weak.

"Fine."

*

By some miracle they make it onto his shuttle without questions and with the baby silent. Ren had found another bag to fill with more supplies and he makes Hux carry them both as he marches onto the shuttle with his back as straight as he can manage. He loathes handing over his daughter but it looks more realistic. 

As soon as the shutter is down and sealed he takes her out of the bag and wanders back to his quarters, leaving Hux to fly them out of the hanger and plot their course into hyperspace. Hux then systematically dismantles all the tracking devices he knows of before making his way back to Ren.

"So the girl is the other parent. That is...something."

"That is the force," Ren mutters while struggling to wrap the baby in the blanket more securely, before reaching into the bag for some sort of food ration she can process. "I told you there was an awakening. I did not realise it began to spread so early. I did not realise what it had done to me."

"And this wakening travelled across the galaxy and knocked you up?"

Ren shrugs. "I am no Supreme Leader or Master Jedi. My knowledge is somewhat limited."

Hux begins pulling off the armour and thinks this sounds utterly ridiculous. But then he has seen Ren stop blaster bolts in mid air. He has seen him jump heights no human should be capable of. He decides to focus on the matters at hand, the matters he can pretend to understand.

"Your mother won't shoot you on arrival and she certainly won't shoot a baby but what about me?"

Ren glances up and offers something between a grimace and a smile. "I tried to inform her that you are the one who aided me but I'm not sure. I hate to do it but you will carry the baby off the ship. For safety."

Fuck his life. Seriously.


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and Ren debate on the shuttle and Hux realises his might just like this baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay! I had final year of uni essays and then exams shortly after the end of the last chapter. Really I should have not started this as I knew things would creep up but my brain was just spilling with ideas! People have commended since February and I'm so happy to have that support. I hope you like this chap which was always planned as a sort of filler. Next chap Kylo, Hux, bb! and the General will meet I promise. :)

The child gets more irritated the longer they go on and Hux knows it must be hungry. They change the rags they are using as diapers several times and it baffles Hux to think they are a _unit_. Hux does not trust the water on the ship to be safe for a child but he finds a bottle of something alcoholic and has heard tales from his family that it can soothe a child to sleep so he takes a gulp to make sure it isn't rancid and then cotes one finger. Ren is hardly paying attention as he presses his forefinger to the girl's lips but he does take note as she immediately starts sucking. 

The new parent's gaze finds the bottle and for a moment he looks enraged and is if he is ready to stand up and choke the life out of Hux before remembering the girl in his arms. "Stop! Look, I know it looks weird but this helps children sleep. It isn't enough to get her drunk or anything."

Ren looks doubtful but Hux pointedly focuses his gaze on the girl who has stopped crying and looks sleepy after a few nips. Kylo huffs and Hux takes that as his instruction to check their progress. He stops through to the control panel and finds them to be on course...to wherever that may be. Organa hates the Order and Hux is not convinced she won't just slaughter her son and granddaughter on the biggest stage of all with him as the warm up act. He shifts from foot to foot before storming back to Kylo.

"You're mother-"

"Will listen to us. I can feel her now. She cannot reply but she can hear and respond in emotions. If anything she is curious. Not of me...but of you."

" _Me_?

Kylo smirks and Hux kind of wants to punch him in his pretty face. _Wait what?_

"I need sanctuary and bear her granddaughter. You...well what are you to her but a puzzle to form?"

The girl takes that moment to whine and Hux seizes on it and begins to repeat his journey around the ship.

"Enough child." Hux states as softly as he can before walking up and down the corridor with her, knowing Kylo simply can't and giving himself breathing room. He cannot be attacked for aiding the child and Kylo needs his rest. Yes. That is it. 

Before he can wrap around the idea that the General wants to speak to him the ships comm buzzes with a connection to her. For a second Hux freaks, and then he remembers his training and balances the baby while bringing up the general's face on the pad. 

"General."

"General." She returns with a smirk he has seen too many times on her idiot son dammit. " Finally, I see the child."

Hux shifts slightly before pulling the blanket to offer a better glance. "A girl. She is healthy yet needs food."

The smile breaks him a bit. "We are waiting."

A further set of security codes appear on the computer and Hux presses the girl closer to his chest. He's attached. Dammit.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group reaches Leia and the baby gets fed but then it all falls apart. Hux realises more and more that he is attached to the child. He didn't mean to be.

Hux shudders the moment the shuttle is pulled into the gravity field of the resistance. Two large ships appear on either side of them and clamp on to control their descent. Ren is waiting by the doors with the now sleeping child and the few supplies they have and without a word returns her to Hux's waiting arms. 

It really has come to this.

His heart is beating too quickly and he feels like he can feel the throb in his ears when the air releases and the doors open to reveal a line of resistance soldiers with their guns pointed at them and a woman he knows to be the General in a blur robe behind them. He is positive he is the only person who hears Ren's sharp intake of breath. 

Two make their way forward and check them for weapons but the majority stay trained on Ren as he is simply a weapon within himself. Hux scowls as they jostle the girl and one looks slightly ashamed as she pulls back. 

"Enough." General Organa's word is quiet yet firm and a gap forms in the line of soldiers that she eases herself through before making her way onto the ship, her gaze flickering before the three occupants. For a moment she is still, her face a mask that meets her son's own, before she is pulling a bottle from her pocket. "I am...pleased to see your safe arrival. For the child."

She reaches out towards Ren with it but he shakes his head and takes it only to hand it to Hux whose eyes widen as he mutters under his breath and presses the teat to the girl's mouth. Unsure at first she then begins to feed greedily. 

"You would not feed your own child?" It is cold and Ren shrinks slightly.

"I would not see my only ally die." Ren returns softly and Hux lowers his gaze. Clearly Ren wants to be the only feeding the girl but his words tumble around the back of Hux's mind. His holding of the child is his greatest protection. 

"We are not a threat here. We shall have words before there are actions. First I would see you all get a medical and I don't need to be an expert to see you have lost a lot of blood, son. " The General states firmly. _We are not you._ "Where is the one who delivered her? Are they on danger where they remain?"

 _Oh_. 

The General thought them lucky enough to have had a nurse or at least a droid. Oh how Hux wishes. "Um...that would be me. I delivered the uh girl. Cut him open and well...taped him up the best I could?"

Years of training just about cover the mixture of shock, horror and outrage that passes the woman's face before she turns stiffly and gestures they are all to follow her. Ren makes it three steps before he collapses on the metal grates of the ships and then all Hux knows is screaming and guns pointed at him and he turns his back and cowers with the girl pressed to his chest.

 

Not her. Not as he lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chap. rey! protective hux! plans


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is panic and then there are blankets and peace.

He hears the General screaming and then the end of the boots on metal grates but he doesn't dare think himself or the child safe. The longer he spends with her the more he thinks of her as his own. Without doubt he has held her longer than her own father. He has cared for her. He dares not think of life separated from her though he knows it is coming and soon at that. 

"Are you really so ill trained you think a bleeding out birther is a threat? And a man holding a child? My grandchild?!" The shrill words take some of the tension out of Hux's shoulders but not enough. Not yet. Medical aids stream onto the ship and droids take notes in a whirl of screeches and beeps.

"Internal bleeding, ma'am. He must have used his...power to hide it from the General"

It doesn't sound as if he is being spoken badly about so Hux nods to himself and shifts to the side to allow the aids more room, all the while wary of his surroundings. He is so busy watching the medics and the troops now hovering down the ramp that he startles when he finds the General at his elbow. A second later he corrects himself. This is not a General. This is the girl's grandmother, watching the blankets with wide and bright eyes. 

"We should get her inside. Please, come with me." She says it softly but both are aware there is no question involved. Despite that Hux offers her the closest he gets to a smile and follows her down the ramp. To hell with Ren; he's ugly enough to cope with himself. 

"This planet is colder than the one left. The girl...she-"

"Of course!", and that is all the General says before she has flagged down a member of the resistance and sent them scrambling towards the building in front of them. When they reach the doors themselves a fine and thick blue blanket is presented to Hux to place the now fussing girl in. "Come. My office. Privacy."

As soon as they enter the room and the doors hiss shut behind them Hux is searching every corner for a threat. "No one sees in here. There is a blaster in the top drawer of my desk but other than that security watches the doors and windows on the outside. How I wanted it."

"Your son can-"

"Nothing anyone has on this base would stop my son." The General states dryly before moving to sit in one of the armchairs in front of her desk. "I'm hoping we can talk and perhaps you will learn to trust me enough to hold the girl and learn her name."

There is something there. Something militaristic and respectful between them and Hux relaxes. "She has no name. Her safety was all we focussed on. I...I will bring her."

And so he does, awkwardly crossing the office until he can lean down into the general's arms and place the babe within them. He thinks of Ren's recently murdered father. He thinks of everything he has done to hurt people this woman loves. He thinks of his own life being on the line. 

Then he sits in the chair and watches a grandmother learn her granddaughter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hux starts talking and rey did so not expect this when she was pulling circuit boards out droids this morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2017 was a bad year for me. imma try finish this.

The price of safety is, of course, everything Hux knows of the First Order and things he does not even realise he remembers. General Organa grills him for hours but she has the decency to do it while offering him a meal at her desk and handing the baby to him when her own hands tire. The child sleeps on and off now she has feed and though a staff member had appeared with a cradle of some sort neither Hux or Organa have any desire to put the girl down. The last question is the one Hux struggles with most. 

"Why did you help my son?"

The best he can come up with is simple and has the General give him a smile he does not understand. "She is innocent. And Ren he...was different."

Different. Slight understatement. Hux is still convinced he is going to be killed. Might as well get along with things before he does something stupid like get even more attached to the child. 

"Speaking of Ren, um, your son. He said the uh, other parent? Was the scavenger we captured, I mean _hosted_ on our ship some time ago. Something to do with the force. I'm not sure. He was a bit confused and um labouring."

General Organa, who had been looking out of the window, turns on her heel slowly and settles back into her seat. "Ben said the other parent was _Rey_? Though the _force_."

Hux feels a flare of irritation and pushes it deep down into his chest where it can't do something like get him decapitated in front of the full resistance. That was what he said wasn't it?

Also. _Ben_. What a horrendously common name. No wonder he changed it. 

*

Rey is helping Poe pull circuits out of an old medical droid for shuttle repairs when a runner tells her that she is needed in General Organa's personal quarters at once. Poe quirks an eyebrow at her but Rey has honestly no idea why she would be summoned so makes her way swiftly, using an old rag to try clear oil from her hands as she goes. 

The sight of General Hux standing with a screaming child while appearing to be covered in said child's vomit as Leia invites her in stuns Rey into silence. 

"Thank you for being so quick."

She nods, making her way slowly towards Hux, a million questions running through her mind but none breaking free. Her gaze fixes on the baby. There is something about the baby. Something that makes her want to _claim_ it as hers. Her hand is reaching towards the blue blanket before she's aware of it. Hux meet her gaze and scoffs before moving toward to meet her and emptying the child into her arms. 

"Oh good. Mummy's here. Take her. I can't believe she threw up on me. After all I have done for her. Insolent brat. Of course she would be with you and Ren for her parents."

"I....what?!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux is smug when Rey is stunned at being mum. Hux is smug right up until Rey states that makes him dad.

The laughter that had erupted from the scavenger, _Rey_ , had shown off her beautiful smile but still left Hux irritated. She should take things seriously. He felt mighty smug as he sat in the chair next to her and heard General Organa confirm his story, complete with a data file showing a dna test had been done using her dna, Ren's and whatever slime they had scraped off him that came from the child. 

His smugness fades abruptly when she realises one of the first things he did. "But then he was , I mean, he, her, in him when...I nearly killed her."

Hux should feel a sense of rage that she didn't because then he would be on his ship and working as normal and Ren wouldn't have defected at his suggestion but he's not. He's not. Instead his stomach feels weird; the galaxy would be wrong and hurting towards something _incomplete_ if Rey had struck the babe. He's attached to it and he doesn't care. 

"Are you well General? You've gone pale?"

"Fine. How are we to proceed?"

Wide eyes turn on him from the girl and his galaxy, on its thankfully babe included trajectory, takes another swerve. "You have to come with me to see Kylo. Leia says you helped bring her into this world. Made sure she got here. Where I come from that means a lot more than just dna. You're dad too."

No. That is not how this works. That is not how _any of this_ works. Before he can voice that however he finds to his horror that Organa is _agreeing_. 

"Ben is awake and stable but not answering any questions or...speaking at all."

Hux snorts. "Of course he isn't. He does not know if he is safe now the babe is away from him and he is isolated from his allies which er- would be you and I. It is standard protocol."

"Is this standard protocol?" Rey pipes in, raising the sleeping babe in her arms slightly with a quirk of her eyebrow that infuriates Hux and confirms the child is going to grow into a damn menace. "Birthing force babies, stealing ships and running to the enemy?"

Hux huffs, his cheek darkening, and straightens himself up in his chair. "The shuttle is Ren's. Protocol dictates he can take it where he pleases. The rest I ...adapted to."

"You just want to survive." Rey sneers.

"Doesn't everyone?" Hux returns. He is aware some don't but even in the First Order they have medical droids to help with that. They are soldiers not uncivilised. "I could have turned over Ren and the child to Snoke and survived. I could have killed the girl and turned Ren over to medical droids and survived. I could have killed them both while he was grasping at a toilet bowl like a sick infant but I _didn't_ "

He has no idea he's standing until Organa is guiding him towards the window to take a moment. 

"I think we can see that we all care for the child and all need answers so let us go see Ben."

Stubbornly Hux doesn't want to but he's a professional damn it all to bantha shit and besides, it is going to be highly entertaining to see Kylo react to _Ben_. 

He is adamant he is not going to react at all to being called _dad_.

And he's certainly not going to admit to how it feels like his guts have been pulled out his arsehole, scrambled about a bit, then shoved back in. No, his emotions will be his own thanks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rey attempts to confront kylo and hux watches in amusement as it goes about as well as can be expected

Kylo looks startled when they all troop in. Also, whether it is the change in atmosphere, smell or temperature Hux doesn't know but the babe starts howling the moment the door hisses shut behind them. Rey's face fills with alarm. Hux automatically takes her and starts pacing the small room before nodding to the feeble looking form in the bed. 

"Kylo."

"Armitage."

Ok, so that throws him. He has never heard his first name from Kylo. He didn't know Kylo knew it. But it is fine. The stir in his gut is fine. The twitch in his groin? All fine. Then Organa talks and it isn't fine. 

"Ben I-"

"Please don't call me that. You gave me that name for someone else and it was never mine. I chose my name." And it is quiet and heartbreaking and Kylo's gaze never leaves the baby as his hands clutch his now empty stomach.

Rey looks ready to implode but something shifts in Organa's face and she wilts into a chair. Hux thinks maybe this Ben thing won't be as funny as he thought. Suddenly he feels violently protective which is ridiculous because usually Hux doesn't need to protect Kylo, he needs protection _from_ Kylo. The babe has fallen back into a sleep so Hux decides to take a gamble and moves to put her in Ren's arms. They won't shoot with him still so near his, well, family. 

He is _working_ on that. Internally. Slowly.

Kylo stills for a brief moment before his long, graceful, fingers are investigating the child's short blonde hairs and chubby cheeks. "She is well?"

"Temperamental. Eating. Shitting. The usual." Hux reports to the ladies' horror but Kylo meets his gaze and nods. It is as kind as they get, really.

"What did you do to me? For her to be here?" Rey demands suddenly and Hux wishes he had a large bottle of alcohol and a straw. He takes a seat and kicks his boots off for good measure because if Ren is about to blow the planet up Hux might as well be comfortable when he does so. 

"What _I_ did to _you_?" Kylo hisses and if Hux hadn't seen the gazes aboard the shuttle here he'd take the child back for her own safety. "Did you carry her? Did you throw up for weeks? Get headaches? Nearly pass out at the smell of simple sustenance? Lose control of your mind and being and force? Get fat feet and fat hands and _fat everything_ while having no idea where in the galaxy the responsible party was?! Did you sit with a knife and get ready to cut her free from your body?!"

"Ah but I did that part." Hux interferes because if he doesn't that blowing up thing might become real. Everything in the room is shaking but given how weak Kylo is showing himself to be with his panting and sweating and spitting out words he's not quick to blame him and is smugly correct when Rey meets his eyes and everything stops. She looks confused, terrified and outraged all at the same time and Hux decides the best thing is to find it hilarious.

"Temper mummy. Children need patience."

Organa groans and reaches for her communicator.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ren thinks they need to make a move on snoke. hux absolutely does not.

It is just the three of them and the child and Hux can't believe he is the mature one in the situation when really he has the most right to throw a tantrum because _he didn't ask for his_. 

"Rey states her desire for me to be...involved."

"He's a dad. He birthed her. Cared. Nurtured. That is what a dad does. If I wasn't involved in the conception act he doesn't need to be either. He cares. He came here for her. He's dad." Rey states before Hux can take his next breathe and he wants to strangle her with her own ridiculous hair. 

"I did not realise your planet was so wild. Pull a child out a hole and that is enough to make you a parent." 

Hux waits for more but that seems to be their lot from Ren who now cares for nothing but the babe and changing her cloths and Hux cannot even _begin_ as the Order is surely coming to _end them all_. He is ready to storm from the room when Ren speaks once more. 

" I will be father. You two can decide amongst yourselves which names you would have. Though...I am not sure how long this truce will hold. I have told them nothing. If I am to be executed-"

"Ren, enough. We have sanctuary here. I saw to it. There is nothing more I could possibly tell." Hux states firmly as Rey is half risen from her chair and Kylo seems ready for a firing squad to walk through the door at any moment. 

"He's right. You're safe." Rey mutters, balking at agreeing with Hux _again_ which amuses him. She sits back in her chair but tilts it more towards the bed this time, closer to Kylo and the babe.

Ren is far from convinced but nods and holds Hux's gaze for a second before turning it on Rey."I don't know what happened. I felt an awakening. I'm sure all sensitives did. Ask mother. It was months before....I don't know everything of the force. It's happened before but only Skywalker has records."

Hux stares at them both. Rey breaks the silence. "People. They...spoke of that. Awakening." 

If nothing else Hux needs off the issues of mumbojumbo. "Papa. If I am to be...part of this madness."

"Mama." Rey declares a second later before blushing. 

"Agreed." Kylo states firmly. "Take her, Rey. She wants you."

Hux sneers as Rey falls out of her seat but meets Kylo's gaze above. His voice is cold. " Snoke will know of her now. Can't you feel her mind? She is _strong_. We must end him. Before he takes her too."

And that is when Hux decides that if everyone else is quite finished having their dramatics then he will have his. He doesn't want to _care_. He just hacked her out _fuck_. He was not born for this. Running? Yes. Protecting his own? Perhaps? Attacking Snoke outright as he know Kylo plans? No. Force no. He feints.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hux works out what this training stuff means. kylo has no anwers. rey has questions. the baby gets a name.

It has been four days since Hux fainted and he is not entirely sure he ever woke up because this world is _insane_. He has been given civilian clothes. So has Ren. Ren and Rey who coo over the babe together. Each of them has a data pad with a list of names on it for the child. Including him. Kylo, himself and the child now share a twin room. A normal room. Rey doesn't share it but fuck it she's there all the time anyway! It gives him migraines. Nothing is okay and oh, his new General is planning how best to train Rey so she can join Kylo in a suicide mission against Snoke. 

By his calculations that leaves Hux with the babe. How is this his life? 

Yet the idea of going back appals him, even if they would have him. Now he has a child of his own the youngsters at the Academy now turn his stomach. He can't look at FN-, _Finn_ , in the eye. He's terrified of Snoke but he would charge him unarmed before handing the child over to become a trooper. She deserves choices. The reality that he has not really been given any and was moulded into what he became too is not something he wants to confront and no you can't make him. Mostly because he knows he had it better and has no right to fall apart of that. 

He is still adamant on _Numa_ for the child's name. For all the ways his world is imploding he sticks by his singular name on that pad. It is not another's name. It is not connected to the planet he was raised on. He just heard it and liked it and frankly that seems a good state given Kylo's suggestions are his family tree and Rey's are people who died. 

He knows this because he made the mistake of engaging her in conversation. The people sound like good people but the deaths sound horrid and really for a _child_. Utterly barbaric. Seeing her in his room rock the child so carefully and smile makes him almost smile and then a thought lurches to the forefront of his mind and about puts his back out the way he turns on Ren by the table.

"This awakening. This conception nonsense. Can it happen again?" 

Ren loses his composure, and Hux notes he has been doing that a lot recently so maybe that ridiculous mask played its part, before getting to his feet. "I don't know. I told you that. I don't understand this."

Rey of course, decides that is her best moment to talk. "Master Luke mi-"

" _No._ " Kylo snarls. "He will never understand or accept her."

Rey's features crumple and she glances at the sabre at her hip. "I can't hide her existence from him in my training."

Kylo says nothing. Hux figures it out. Rey lets out a startled huff. 

So, the plan is Kylo trains Rey. Rey and Kylo fight Snoke. Hux raises Numa. Because they can fight him over the name now if he has to endure training of all things.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo trains Rey. Hux trains Rey. Hux and Rey talk. New plans are formed.

Hux finds himself bonding with Rey over her training because frankly they are both bothered by the lack of it. Both had expected Kylo to get her outside with her lightsaber and have at it but instead he insists they meditate. Often. For horrendous stretches of time as their doom hurtles towards them from some unknown part of the galaxy. 

She is frustrated and he is bored and conveniently for the both of them Kylo often likes to have a couple of hours a day to himself with Numa which the resistance allows given the security around their room. Yes. _Numa_. He'd won that one and if he had many people to talk to Hux would be damn smug about it but he doesn't so instead he has to tell Rey he has no idea where or when he knows it from but he does and he liked it. So there. 

Rey is one of the few that can escort him from their room and he is one of the few willing to teach her how to shoot better. She is all raw emotion and while that is good at times she still needs to _think_. Of course, he is not allowed to handle any weapons himself but somehow they are given consent for him to stand by her side and instruct her. Desperation maybe. 

"You should push him for more training. I think he is afraid of you." Hux states on their way back to their rooms one day. The thought has circled for weeks and frankly anything that moves things forward is positive, even if he has to force it. 

"Kylo insists once I get meditation right I will be able to shield everything about Numa from Luke. Of course he will learn she exists but I don't want him knowing details if they could harm her. SHe is my priority."

Oh. Kylo has developed some morality to go with his duty. Wonderful.

"Did it occur to you both that I know everything and can shield nothing? Skywalker will know that. I don't think Skywalker would hurt a child of her age without any demonstration that she takes after Kylo which for the record I see no fault in. But Snoke will end the whole family when he finds us."

Rey smiles and Hux has to focus on his steps. She is so beautiful. It is hard not to care and to want. "You keep calling us a family."

"We are. Unconventional. Argumentative. Family all the same. We unite around Numa. My past life is over Rey." Hux states flatly before pausing in the corridor and taking Rey by the elbow until she faces him. " I can't...I could never recruit children like Finn again after holding our daughter. I hope you know that." 

She covers his hand with hers and then reaches up to press her lips to his cheek, making him blush. "I know. Tell Finn that, yeah? He could be a really good ally to us." 

_Oh_. That will be the day.


End file.
